


Make Some Room

by thepocketdragon



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Apartment, F/F, New York, Roommates, bechloe - Freeform, diabetic!beca
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-20 10:14:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30003312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thepocketdragon/pseuds/thepocketdragon
Summary: Three girls, one New York apartment and an ad for a spare room.Enter Beca Mitchell.An “and-they-were-roommates” AU. Strangers to friends to lovers. Bechloe. Slow burn (not sorry).
Relationships: Chloe Beale & Beca Mitchell, Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell
Comments: 68
Kudos: 147





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is an AU in which Beca was never at Barden with the rest of the girls. Some parts will have an air of canon about them, but I have taken a lot of artistic liberties and added some new dimensions to these characters. 
> 
> Just a quick trigger warning for anyone who needs one: although this story does not directly deal with the subject, there are mentions of disordered eating patterns and behaviours.

Having a window cracked open in New York City in February is never advisable, but sometimes it is necessary.

Sure, Chloe’s hands are tingling with the cold and she can see her breath, but at least the room she is standing in no longer suffocates her. There is something incredibly noxious about the combination of industrial-strength cleaning fluid, recently-applied emulsion and the lingering stench left behind by the sixteen hamsters their old roommate had been housing underneath her bed.

“Wow. Okay, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I actually miss Stoner Stephanie. At least I could pretend that the weed smell was incense or something. This is disgusting!” Chloe’s roommate appears with her sleeve-covered hand over her nose and mouth.

After having spent the last two days trying to do some damage control in the fourth bedroom in their apartment, Chloe agrees wholeheartedly with her roommate. In fact, she has reached the point where she would welcome Stoner Steph and her collection of experimental techno records back with open arms. After what they had been through with their last roommate, anything would be an improvement.

“How long do you think we should leave it before we put an ad out?”

Chloe stands back to admire her handiwork, re-tying her auburn curls into a messy bun as she waits for her roommate to respond. Aubrey is one of Chloe’s oldest friends; a sensible, strait-laced young woman with a sharp mind and a sharp tongue. As different as they are, Chloe knows she certainly could never have made it through college without her. She certainly would never have ended up in the middle of New York if it hadn’t been for Aubrey offering her a job at her father’s company while she worked out what to do with her shiny new degree and her limitless, untold future.

“I think we could put an ad out now if we wanted. I mean, all we need to say is that the room won’t be available for a couple days so the paint has time to dry.” Aubrey’s perfectly manicured nails tap against the edge of the door as she thinks. “Maybe, when Amy gets home, we should all sit down and work out what we want? I don’t know about you, but I can’t deal with another weird roommate. We need to vet this one properly and we need criteria.”

Chloe couldn’t agree more. As much as they need the money- holding graduate-level jobs whilst living in one of the biggest cities in the world means they aren’t exactly swimming in spare cash- the last few months have been hell. On paper, Lilly had been a great roommate. She had a steady job in the city, she was able to pay a security deposit in advance and the credit checks Aubrey had done through her father’s business had come back clean, albeit under a different first name. She had been so incredibly quiet, so shy, that they had expected she would be a wallflower and that, over time, she might speak up a little and come out of her shell. They could not have been more wrong.

When Chloe and Aubrey had come back from work one evening to find her bedroom door closed, the sounds of muffled quacking and beating the only clue that Lilly was even home, they had paused for a moment to listen. Amy, their third roommate, had appeared behind them and had suggested the theory that Lilly might have some very specific fetishes.

Chloe can remember her sensible suggestion, that possibly Lilly was beatboxing. They had all agreed that was most likely and had carried on with their lives until, after an hour or so, the door opened to reveal Lilly, dressed head-to-toe in a beekeeping suit with a live goose under one arm.

“I think I was closer with the fetish thing”, Amy had murmured under her breath as she watched the slim, dark-haired woman slip out of the front door. “I wonder how much she charges.”

After that day, things had gone downhill rapidly.

Goldfish in the bathtub had prompted a discussion about experimental photography and whether Lilly’s job was more artsy than they had envisioned.

Her extensive collection of wigs had left Amy wondering aloud if she was a secret agent.

It was only when Aubrey had walked into the house to find the woman chanting in front of the mirror, her face and naked body covered in the same spray paint that now coated her bedroom walls, that they had called time.

(And an ambulance.)

* * *

As Chloe stares at the freshly-coated wall, Lilly’s sprayed markings (a message to the twin who still lived inside her, she had claimed in a voice far louder than they had ever heard her use before) hidden from view by two solid layers of white emulsion, she thinks about what kind of roommate she would like.

Someone nice.

  
Someone with a sense of humour.

Someone who isn’t going to keep her up at night worrying about the penalties for keeping exotic animals in the middle of Manhattan.

“Alright, I’m going to go shower off this paint and get changed and then shall we sit down and work out what we’re looking for?”

Aubrey nods at Chloe’s suggestion. “Perfect. I’ll get Amy.”

* * *

By the time Chloe gets out of the shower and has towelled her hair until it is fairly dry, she has a clearer idea of the kind of person she could see them all living with. Music is, naturally, at the top of her priority list. Not least since the three of them- Chloe, Aubrey and Amy- had met in college through their acapella group. They all love music. It is a way of life, a way of communication. Living with someone who doesn’t understand that is never going to be a long-term solution to their roommate problem.

“I think we need to say females only.” Aubrey is already sat at the kitchen table, her laptop open, when Chloe walks down the small set of stairs that separate the living space from the rest of the apartment. “I don’t think any of us want some skeezy guy living here. I wouldn’t feel safe.”

“But, ah, what about if- say, for example- it was a not-skeezy guy? How would you feel about that? Because some of us might actually quite enjoy some on-tap male company on these cold winter nights.”

“Amy, no. Actually, if we end up offering this room to a guy, I’m going to add that to the roommate rules. No fraternisation. It’s inappropriate.”

Chloe simply nods along. It is far too much effort to get into an argument with Aubrey Posen before dinner time. “I agree with the no men thing, but I don’t think we can say females only unless we stipulate that we’d also be welcoming of trans or non-binary roommates? I guess the thing we’re actually not looking for is a cisgendered, heterosexual guy.”

“I think you’ll find that’s _exactly_ what some of us are looking for” Amy interjects.

“But that’s also sexist and discriminatory”, Chloe concludes. “So, maybe, we leave gender out of the equation and just vet it on personality?”

Aubrey pauses for a moment, the tip of the pen she definitely didn’t need to be holding caught between her teeth. “Fine. Alright. So we’ll leave it open to any and all genders. What criteria do we actually need to put down?”

“No pets. Not even hamsters. Or goldfish.”

“Must have a steady income? We can say we’re professionals now, so maybe we frame it like we’re looking for a professional?”

Aubrey smiles across at Chloe. “True. I mean, you write job descriptions for a living Chloe. Any insights?”

Chloe takes a moment to understand that, effectively, Aubrey is passing her the responsibility. Slowly, she takes a breath and thinks about the mental list she had made whilst in the shower. “I mean, the important thing is that we find a roommate who fits in with us and who is going to be respectful of the way we do things.”

“I think our initial ideas about having someone who can dance in heels and match pitch went out the window a long time ago, but I agree. They’ve got to fit in. Nobody too alternative. Just, I don’t know, normal.” Aubrey’s tone gives away her biases more often than she realises.

Chloe decides against digging into what exactly Aubrey thinks is ‘normal’ about any of them, and instead adds her own thoughts. “Someone who gets the music thing would be nice, though. I don’t think they necessarily have to sing, but I think it’s important to put it in the criteria. Just so we have something in common.”

“That’s fair.”

“Sounds good to me, ginger. Alright, you girls can get that written up. I’ve got to go see a guy about my investment portfolio.”

Aubrey’s brow furrows in Chloe’s direction the minute Amy got up from the table and left the room. “Do you think she means that _literally_?”

Chloe simply shrugs. “After this long, Aubs, I have learned it’s best not to ask.” Picking up her chair, Chloe moved closer to her roommate. “Anyway, let’s see what we can write. We’re all off work this weekend, so we might as well post it today. That way, we can meet them and make a decision together.”

“Excellent. Alright, here we go.”

* * *

_Part-furnished room available in 4 bed/1.5 bath brownstone apartment in South Harlem. $950/month (utilities and internet included)._

_Room comes with double bed, desk, chair, bedside table and built-in closet. Apartment is situated close to amenities, within walking distance of Columbia University and Central Park. 5 minute walk to subway station._

_We are 3 20-something females looking for a fourth roommate. Must be professional, considerate and a non-smoker. No pets, no matter how small._

_Please email for further information or to arrange a tour._

* * *

The ad has only been up for an hour, but Chloe can’t help but keep refreshing her emails. Part of her is terrified that their run of bad luck with roommates isn’t quite over. The other part of her, however, is excited at the prospect of someone new. A new friend.

“Oh!” Her phone lights up with a notification. “Girls, we have an email!”

Chloe swipes her screen, opening the new message.

“Alright, she says she works for a record label so that’s the job and the music thing taken care of. She doesn’t smoke, doesn’t have any pets and is also in her 20s.”

Aubrey watches on as Chloe taps at her phone. “You’ve already replied, haven’t you?”

Chloe shrugs. “Maybe.” Pulling herself up off the couch and adjusting her shirt, she smiles sweetly at her two roommates. “Anyway, she’ll be here in half an hour.”

Amy groans. Aubrey shakes her head. They are used to this by now; four years of college has been enough to grow accustomed, even fond, of Chloe’s tendency to overstep the boundaries and social conventions most people would respect. It was impossible not to find it at least a little endearing, which Aubrey knows she puts down to the power of Chloe’s wide blue eyes.

“Do we even get to know her name before you invite this stranger to move in with us?”

“Yeah, of course.” Chloe brushes her hair back off her face as she smiles. “Her name is Beca.”


	2. Chapter 2

Beca Mitchell stands outside the door for apartment 201 and knocks gently. She isn’t entirely sure how she has ended up there, dressed in a passably professional outfit and nervously revising all the things her mom taught her about making a good first impression. The girl she had been emailing with had been friendly and open and, when she had asked if she was available to come and see the apartment that evening, the word ‘no’ hadn’t even crossed her mind.

Besides, it wasn’t like Beca had any other plans.

“Hi.” The door opens to reveal one of the most attractive women Beca has ever seen. She is objectively pretty, with high cheekbones and a button nose and enticingly bright blue eyes. Her red hair falls in gentle waves, brushing against her shoulders, contrasting against the stone-coloured sweater she is wearing. “You must be Beca. I’m Chloe. Come in.”

It makes sense that the girl behind the emails would be this cheerful in person. The woman is like actual sunshine.

“So, this is Aubrey and Amy. Do… do you want us to show you around?”

“Sure. Do you want me to take my shoes off or anything?”

Chloe shakes her head. “No, you’re good. Alright, so this is the kitchen. We all have cupboards for our own food but we share plates and bowls. And, well, to be honest we tend to cook together a lot but that’s up to you. There’s a shelf each in the fridge and a drawer each in the freezer. Ah, what else to tell you?” Chloe’s eyes keep being drawn back to Beca. “There’s a microwave, toaster, oven, gas stove and- oh- we got a coffee machine on Black Friday last year. We all pay in a little each month and buy the pods in bulk because it’s cheaper. Actually, we have a fund which covers a lot of universal items like cleaning products, laundry powder and toilet paper. Once a month or so we just do a Costco run in an Uber.”

“Smart.”

Beca suddenly feels herself being pushed into the space beside the kitchen by one of the other girls.

“And this is the living room. I won’t go into as much detail as Chloe because it’s fairly obvious that you’ve got two working eyes and a rudimentary understanding of how houses work.”

She realises in that moment that she has barely paid any attention to either of the blonde women. The girl speaking to her has a twang to her voice. It takes a second for Beca to realise she is Australian.

“Cable’s included in the utilities. Which is covered by the rent.” The other blonde seems a little more snippy. ‘Fun’ isn’t exactly the word that comes into Beca’s mind when she looks at her. “Do you have any references?”

Beca pauses. The ad hadn’t mentioned references. “I, ah, I didn’t know you’d need any. But I can get you something in writing if you need it? Or I can give you the contact details for my boss if you think it’s necessary?”

It is hard to pretend not to notice the silent, eyes-only conversation going on behind her. Beca spots the pleading expression on the redhead’s face and the way her lips fall into a slight frown when the sharp blonde glares back. At least Beca appreciates the way the Australian girl seems to be glancing between them both as if to say, “she’s right there, guys.”

“Do… would you mind showing me the room? That’s kind of the biggest thing I need to see.”

“Oh!” Chloe seems to come to her senses. “Of course. Follow me.”

The redhead leads Beca up a set of wooden steps and down a corridor. “This is Amy’s room here, and this opposite is the main bathroom. There is also a half bath- just a toilet and a sink- behind the kitchen.” Chloe pushes open the door to the bathroom. “We try and take it in turns to clean but the general agreement is that we just clean up our own mess as we go. There isn’t, like, a rota or anything.”

“Cool.” Beca is surprised. She can’t help but imagine that the snippy blonde is _just_ the type to love a chore chart of some kind. One which she could use to boss people around. As she follows Chloe around the corner, she spots the open door.

“So, this is the room. Sorry about the smell of paint. I only finished it this morning. I… I don’t think it will be ready to move into for at least a few more days. Just in case it needs another coat or whatever. Anyway, I, ah, I’ll leave you to look around. We’ll be in the living room. Come find us when you’re done.”

Beca looks around the room. It is a fairly good size, definitely bigger than the room she lives in at the moment. The first thing she does is work out where the power outlets are. That is one of her main issues with her current place; the desk is in entirely the wrong place and her floor is littered with extension cables to get her equipment to work. This room would work for her. The closet is a nice addition. Beca doesn’t have too many clothes, but there would be space for everything.

For the price, it is a steal. A nice apartment in a good area of Manhattan, three good roommates and one of them had even gone to the trouble to paint the walls.

She can’t help but wonder if there is a catch. Her curiosity piques as she walks back towards the living room, where the three girls are talking in muted whispers.

“Look, I don’t disagree, I just… she might be a little too alternative for me.”

“Because she has a tattoo? Aubrey, I have three.”

“Hi.” It feel incredibly uncomfortable to be the one to break the silence, but Beca doesn’t have a choice. “I… I really like the room, but I do have a couple questions.”

“So do we.”

“Go ahead Beca.” There is something really intriguing about the redhead taking charge of the conversation. There is something about the way it makes her feel. Beca tries her best to push it down as she thinks back to the questions she had wanted to ask.

“The first is a practical one I guess. I… I have a mini fridge that I keep in my room. I just wanted to check that would be ok? I’m happy to pay more towards utilities if it costs too much to run, but it’s kind of a necessity.”

“We could certainly get that written into a contract. I don’t see a problem. Anyone else?”

Chloe and Amy shake their heads at Aubrey.

“Anything else?”

Beca scrunches her nose slightly. “It’s just, I guess in the spirit of openness and honesty since you guys know a little about me already, I was wondering if you could tell me why the room is available and what happened to the wall?”

Amy sits up and opens her mouth, but is pushed back by Chloe. Beca is disappointed. She kind of wanted to hear Amy’s version. It would probably be the most truthful. “The girl we lived with before was, ah, going through some stuff. She’s alright now, though. She’s just…”

“She had a psychotic break. She painted the walls with messages to her unborn twin. Or was it her undead twin? Actually, maybe she said she ate her?” Amy waves her hand in dismissal. “It was always very difficult to understand her. But it was definitely something to do with a twin.”

“Jesus. Is she alright?”

“She’s in the hospital. Her parents sent for her stuff and we donated all the hamsters she was keeping to the ASPCA. She’ll be fine.”

“So, Beca. Can I ask where you live now and why you’re looking for a new place?”

Beca nods and brushes her mousy hair behind her ear. “Yeah. I mean, I moved to the city for work about 6 months ago. I’d been in LA for about 3 years and I got promoted on the condition I moved to our partner label. It’s more my speed out here so I agreed. Anyway, I didn’t know if I’d want to say long term, so I took short-term leases every couple months. I’m currently sharing a tiny apartment with a girl called Kimmy Jin. It’s fine but we have absolutely nothing in common and there just isn’t any space or privacy. And, well, I decided I’d start looking for something more long-term today and I saw your ad.”

“And you work in music?”

“Yeah. I’m a producer.” It is hard not to smile. The new title, the real job without the word ‘associate’ in front of it, is everything Beca has been working towards since she skipped Washington for California when she finished high school.

“Wow. I mean, I knew you worked for a label, but that’s so cool. Have you worked with anyone we’d know?” Chloe’s enthusiasm feels infectious.

“Well, in LA I worked on a few projects. It was mainly new artists, but I did get studio time with Snoop Dogg. Oh, and last week I got to sit in on Katy Perry’s session while she was in town. The sound engineer let me work at the desk which was cool.”

“Serious? Katy Perry?” Amy turns to the other girls. “Can we just give her a key now please?”

“I mean, I’m happy to… to agree to that. If we’re all happy?” It is impossible to miss the way Chloe’s eyes fix on Aubrey.

“Sure. Subject to references of course. From two trusted sources. And you’ll need to sign a formal contract. And pay a security deposit and first month’s rent in advance.”

“Of course.”

Before she knows it, Beca is wrapped in a firm hug by a bouncing redhead. “Welcome, roomie!”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all of your comments so far. 
> 
> I'm hoping to keep to a fairly solid schedule of posting twice a week- Mondays and Thursdays. 
> 
> Also, this chapter introduces a couple more familiar faces (obviously in a very AU way) and gives a little more insight into Beca. Please let me know what you think!

“This is a lot of equipment, my friend.” Chloe insists on helping Beca carry at least some of her belongings from the truck she had hired into the apartment. Beca has two friends- Luke and Jesse- helping her out, but Chloe can’t help but feel like it is her job as a new roommate to lend a hand. She had picked up a box of fancy music gadgets because it looked interesting.

“Yeah. I don’t use it as much anymore now I have better stuff at work, but it’s still fun and I guess it’s still my hobby. It, ah, it goes on the desk. Just leave it and I’ll set it up later.”

Chloe nods and watches as a guy with a stunning English accent carries in a small refrigerator and plugs it in underneath the desk. From inside it, he pulls out a cool box, holding it up in Beca’s direction before putting it back inside and closing the door. As he stands back up and stretches, Chloe can’t help but admire the chiselled abs on display. Beca has some attractive friends. Chloe makes a mental note to warn her about Stacie before their next house party, just in case Luke happens to be there.

“Yo, Becky,” Luke hovers in the doorway and looks at Beca, “have you had anything to eat or drink since we arrived?” Beca shakes her head. “Where’s all your shit? Got any cookies? Or juice?”

“In the truck. I’ll come down.”

Luke seems to nod his approval, but looks pointedly in her direction. “You come down, but you wait until you’ve had something before you come back up, okay?”

“Fine.”

Chloe feels as if the exchange is something she shouldn’t have been a part of, something personal and private. Quietly, she makes her way out of the room and back down the corridor towards the kitchen where Amy is sat at the table, clearly the best spot to watch the guys carry Beca’s stuff through the house.

“You good?” Amy asks.

“Yeah.”

“Do you happen to know if the hot guy is single?”

“Luke? No idea. I didn’t think to ask for some reason.”

Amy shakes her head and takes a sip of her coffee. “Amateur. No wonder it’s been months since you got laid. Where’s your game gone?”

“My game? I’ve still got game. I just…. I choose not to play as often. I’ve got more important things to be doing.”

Amy scoffs. “Yeah, like giving googly eyes to the hot new alt girl who’s just moved in?”

“I am…” Chloe’s mouth opens and closes several times as she tries to find the right words. Amy simply stares on, waiting for her to dig herself out of the hole she is slowly slipping into. “Is it wrong to be curious?”

“Bi-curious.”

Amy’s comment earns her a kick under the table. “Shut up. Anyway, where is Aubrey? I thought she would be here by now.”

“Her dad called her about something to do with work. She’s been in her room for an hour.”

Chloe sighs. She is so grateful to have landed on her feet in being offered a job with Aubrey’s father’s business. It has so many benefits, chief among them being the opportunity to work alongside her best friend, but she knows how hard Aubrey had worked in college, how desperate she had been to find her own way in life. Graduate jobs were hard to come by and most were low-paying, entry-level positions. Knowing the lifestyle Aubrey was used to, and knowing how tenacious and ambitious she was, her dad had offered her a position on the board at the family’s holding company. The job came with a salary he would have known no other business in the country could rival, especially for a communications graduate fresh out of college. Aubrey hadn’t been able to say no, and the changes in her as soon as she donned that suit and stepped into the headquarters of a company that had seen her grow from a baby, were immediate.

She was different from then on.

Harsh. Angry. Tired.

Chloe can only hope that, one day soon, she will find a way to use her skills outside of the family business or that her dad will loosen the reins and give her the freedom to do what she does best.

In the meantime, she does her best to cheer Aubrey up each and every day.

“Maybe we should get takeout tonight to celebrate? Just, I don’t know, as a little get together? We could order from that place Aubrey likes.”

“Sounds good. Let’s check with Beca first, though. And make sure Aubrey doesn’t have other plans.”

Both Aubrey and Beca seem to appear in the room as soon as Amy mentions their names. Beca speaks first.“I, ah, I’m just going to go and say goodbye to the guys. Back in two minutes.”

Aubrey watches Beca leave before turning to Chloe and Amy. “So, anything happen while I was gone?”

Amy nods and sits up straight in her chair. “Well, first off, Beca has hot guy friends. So that’s a bonus we didn’t even know we were getting. And second, Chloe just suggested ordering in for dinner all together? Maybe from that Korean place you went to. KoBa?”

Chloe knows from the look on Aubrey’s face that the idea of Korean BBQ might just be enough to save her mood from turning sour. “I could definitely go for some KoBa. That kimchi fried rice I had last time was incredible.”

* * *

By the time Beca has made it back up the stairs, the three girls are already sat around the table.

“Can I get you a drink, Beca? Coffee? Tea?”

Chloe watches on as Beca pauses for a moment. “Actually, yeah that would be great. Coffee, please.”

“How do you take it?”

“Just black, thanks.”

Aubrey’s lips twist into a slight smile at Chloe’s face. It is a look of vindication. “See, Chlo. That’s because adult women don’t need a full ounce of corn syrup in their caffeine, or a swirl of cream on top.”

“Oh, I’m all for a swirl of cream every now and again,” Beca says gently, “but generally if it’s plain, it takes less time which means I can get it into my veins quicker. I had to teach myself to like it, though. I’m still a sucker for a pumpkin spice latte every now and again.”

When Chloe catches Beca’s eye, she could swear she sees her wink.

Maybe, she thinks, it is just a trick of the light.

* * *

“Alright, I’ve got Chloe’s tofu kimchi fried rice and side of veggies. Aubrey that’s your kimchi fried rice with bbq beef and a fancy egg. Mine’s the seafood noodles, Beca here’s your veggie noodles and… wait, did we both get fried chicken? Cool.”

“Does anyone want a beer?” Chloe pauses in front of the fridge and smiles across at Beca. “I feel like we should have got Champagne or something. The fanciest thing I can offer right now is a Brooklyn IPA or a Heineken.”

“I’ll take either, thanks.”

Chloe pulls two bottles from the fridge, uncapping them and handing one to Beca. Holding it up, she smiles. “So, here’s to having a full house. We hope you feel at home here, Beca.”

As the bottles clink together, Aubrey takes a sip of her wine. “So, while we’re all together, I thought it might be a good idea to at least go over the roommate rules so that Beca knows what they are?”

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing crazy” Chloe whispers, ending her sentence with a wink that Beca clearly doesn’t know what to do with.

“Yeah, and most of them are just veiled attempts to quash my brilliance” Amy adds, “which, in case you were wondering, is impossible.”

Beca smiles, her lips almost touching the top of her beer bottle. “Yeah, I got that.” Chloe watches on, feeling warm at the idea that Beca and Amy have already hit on some kind of dynamic.

“Yes, well, most of them relate to Amy because Amy gives us reason to have rules written down in the first place. But they are important. And there are consequences for breaking them. The biggest of all, of course, being eviction. But I’m sure it won’t come to that.” Aubrey’s eyes seem to flash as she smiles falsely. “Anyway, the full list will come with your contract, but the headlines are these: no drugs in the apartment, no loud music after 9pm on week nights and 10.30 on weekends, don’t open anyone else’s mail, don’t keep hamsters under your bed and if you bring a guy home, be respectful and keep the noise down. Also, don’t have sex on the couch, in the kitchen or in anyone else’s room.”

Amy leans in to Beca, staring at Aubrey as she whispers theatrically in her ear. “The shower is still fair game, though. It isn’t on the list.”

“Good to know.” Beca whispers back.

Aubrey shakes her head in Amy’s direction before looking back at Beca. “So, Beca, I don’t think we ever asked if you were dating anyone? Were either of those guys earlier your boyfriend?”

Chloe’s eyes are drawn to the way Beca lifts her hand gently to her lips to stifle a laugh. Slowly she seems to take a breath and look up at Aubrey. “Nope. Absolutely not. They… they’re my friends. Jesse works for the same label as me and Luke and I go way back. But, no. I’m definitely not dating either of them.”

Amy leans back in her chair, pushing up her boobs comically and adjusting her bra. “Good to know, my little friend. That is very good to know.”

“Well, regardless of whether you’re dating or sleeping together or whatever, the rules are the same. No bare bodies on the couch or the table or the kitchen surfaces” the glare at Amy is white hot, “and keep all activities with potential boyfriends to a respectful volume.”

It is impossible to ignore the snigger that Beca lets out as she tries to keep a straight face and look Aubrey in the eye. “I can promise you now, Aubrey, that you will never have to worry about potential boyfriends of mine sullying your couch.”

“That’s a very bold claim to be…”

The way Beca rolls her eyes is impressive. It is also brave, Chloe decides, to pull out the eye-roll so soon. In front of Aubrey, no less. “Believe me. It won’t be an issue.”

“Well, as long as you’re sure… Alright, I need more wine”.

As soon as Aubrey gets up from the table to refill her glass, Amy leans closer to Chloe, speaking out of the corner of her mouth. “Is it me, or does she really not get what this chick is getting at?”

Chloe shrugs. “You want to argue with her?” Amy shakes her head and turns her attention back to her noodles. “Exactly. She’ll work it out eventually.”

“And when she does, there will be a whole new host of rules about lez-be-friends” Amy says with her mouth full.

“You… you guys do know I can hear you, right?” Beca questions, one eyebrow raised. “Like I’m literally right here.”

As Aubrey walks back towards her seat, Amy leans closer to Beca. “If I were you, I’d find every single loophole in that stupid list while you can and make the most of your freedom before she quarantines your lady-loving to your room and puts a curfew on your vagina.”

“Jesus.” Beca takes a swig of her drink. “Can’t say I’m up to the challenge, but thanks.”

Chloe, sat across the table, can’t ignore the growing list of curiosities about the dark-haired woman who now lives in their apartment. She wants to get to know her, wants to find out more about her. There is one sure-fire way she knows that will at least give her some insight into the mysterious brunette. “Do you, ah, want to connect your phone up to the bluetooth speaker, Beca? You can put on whatever you want. I’d love to hear what you like to listen to.”

Beca connects her phone up and Chloe watches as she scrolls through an endless collection of playlists. “This one is just songs for dinner. There’s a few favourites on here, but it’s mellow enough to have a conversation over.” A gentle, female voice sings out through the speaker.

“Do you sing, Beca?” Chloe is surprised that it is Aubrey who asks the question.

Something seems to flash across Beca’s eyes before she answers. “Sorry, I don’t.” Chloe has a feeling it isn’t quite the whole truth, but one thing is certain. Beca Mitchell has her intrigued.


End file.
